The Social Policies Area of the EU EUROsociAL+ Programme and the Programme to Support the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Paraguay organised an international seminar on care to mark International Women's Day 2022.
On 10 March, Paraguay hosted the international seminar “Towards a National Care System“ organised by the Ministry of Women, with the support of the EUROsociAL+ Programme and the Support for the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Paraguay programme financed by the European Union and led by FIIAPP.
The initiative was intended to be a space for dialogue, reflection, and exchange between different political and social actors from Paraguay, on the importance of promoting a National Care System as the fourth pillar of the Social Protection System. To achieve this, the basic aspects of the need to install care systems in Latin America and the Caribbean were emphasised, and they analysed good international practices in building and implementing national and sub-national care policies in Europe and Latin America. There were national presentations by Costa Rica and the Netherlands, and sub-national plans from Bogotá and Montevideo. The IDB was also there to talk about the work of the Red Cuidar that is promoted jointly with the EUROsociAL+ programme.
The seminar served as a platform to strengthen legislative dialogue and the roadmap for the approval of the bill that creates the National Care System of Paraguay (SINACUP), presented in December 2021 to Congress and currently in process.
The opening event was attended by the Minister for Women, Celina Lezcano, and European Union ambassador to Paraguay Javier García de Viedma. Gloria Arredondo, a Eurosocial/IILA expert presented the conclusions, highlighting the need to build care systems i) firstly, to uphold the rights of people who require care – dependent elderly people, people with disabilities and children, ii) secondly, to reduce disparities in social equality, encouraging gender equality, iii) and, thirdly, to drive care as a dynamic sector of the economy with positive returns. In short, because these systems help to drive sustainable development and social cohesion.
According to Ambassador García Viedma, it is probably one of the most strategic public policies that all countries should adopt. The seminar is part of the support process provided by the EUROsociAL+ programme, which is led by the social policy area in coordination with the gender area.
